anyway.http://www.lumpley.com/
Vincent Baker's blog thingy.en-us2015-02-20: Rhinoceros Joust!http://www.lumpley.com/comment.php?entry=825
By Vincent Baker in anyway. Filed under mylife curious rpgdesign. 2015-02-20 ]]>Fri, 20 Feb 2015 00:00:00 -05002015-02-14: lumpley games 2014 bizhttp://www.lumpley.com/comment.php?entry=824
Previously
2014-01-05: lumpley games in 2011-20132013-02-28: lumpley games 10-year retrospective2012-01-02: 2011 at lumpley games2011-02-18: 2010 at lumpley gamesAlsoThe state of lumpley games, 2013, part 1The state of lumpley games, 2013, part 2The state of lumpley games, 2013, part 3The state of lumpley games, 2013, part 4Sales
Here are the boring numbers. These are lumpley games' sales, 2010-2014, quarterly. PDF and print combined. Direct online sales only; sales at cons, to retailers, bundles, whatever else, all are in addition to these numbers.
lumpley games' sales 2010-2014
I suspect that this graph shows Apocalypse World's peak in 2014 Q1, with 2014 Q2 beginning its decade-long decline.
You can also see that my short-term project, riding the brakes, as described in the "State of lumpley games, 2013" series above, is working. I haven't published a new for-sale game since 2012. I've been devoting time to my darling family and my Minecraft, not to this blog or cons or many of the things I did to keep lumpley games buzzing.
Otherwise, not much to say about these numbers! You can look back at past years for analysis, or ask me for any details you're curious about.
Here are each game's totals, lifetime.
lumpley games' lifetime total direct salesCents Per Word
I did take the time to chart out how many cents per word my games pay me! It seems a going topic: What's a Freelance RPG Writer Worth? and Pie For Everyone, Just Sliced Very Thinly.
In the kind of publishing I do, you put in all your work up-front and your company pays you out over time. When I published Apocalypse World, for instance, I'd written 70,000 words, and also put in about 300 hours of non-writing work (let's say), all for no pay. I start to pay myself out with the game's first sale, and for as long as the game remains in publication, its payout rate per word just increases:
lumpley games' writers' rates, per game
Naturally the writers' rates are only half the picture. I arrived at these numbers by notionally splitting my games' margin 50/50 with myself, paying myself out half per word and half per hour of non-writing work.
splitting the margin 50/50 with myself
That's with the exception of the lumpley games PDF library, as you can see. I decided not to notionally split the margin with myself as a writer for that product, since it was all already written and I already held the rights to publish it all, only to notionally pay myself hourly for putting it together.
I crack myself up.
Questions, comments, observations welcome as always! By Vincent Baker in anyway. Filed under rpglink mylife curious rpgsocial. 2015-02-14 ]]>Sat, 14 Feb 2015 00:00:00 -05002015-02-01: Freebooting Venus playtest document in...http://www.lumpley.com/comment.php?entry=823
Update: Ditching out. Score this one to the FAIL column.
I'll have my internal playtesting stuff with me for my off-the-books stop at Dreamation. Bug me there if you want to see it!
Freebooting Venus playtest document in
7 days .
6 days .
5 days .
4 days .
Yeah, I'm giving myself a week's extension.
10 days .
9 days .
8 days .
7 days .
6 days .
5 days .
4 days .
3 days .
FAIL. By Vincent Baker in anyway. Filed under rpgdesign. 2015-02-01 ]]>Sun, 01 Feb 2015 00:00:00 -05002014-12-28: Freebooting Venus - First Lookhttp://www.lumpley.com/comment.php?entry=822
Freebooting Venus is fun, freewheeling fantasy adventure on this ancient and marvelous world.
I'm running internal playtests now, and while the game isn't ready for external playtesting, I do want to give you a first look, if you're interested.
Freebooting Venus - First Look By Vincent Baker in anyway. Filed under rpglink rpgdesign. 2014-12-28 ]]>Sun, 28 Dec 2014 00:00:00 -05002014-12-22: #IndieRPGbizhttp://www.lumpley.com/comment.php?entry=821
Copied over from Twitter
Dec 20
0. I feel a stirring, a renewal of purpose and hope, in the earth deep under my indie feet. This is bad news. It means fighting.
Today
1. Most people who cry "mutualism!" just want you to cut them in. Find the real mutualism. It's powerful but not always obvious.
2. Always learn and understand the business interests of the people you join up with, so you know whether you can trust them.
3. Established game lines want you to challenge them on production and promotion, so that they will win.
4. Challenge established game lines on gameplay instead. A better game, in plain text, can win players away, no matter how fancy.
5. Real mutualism is predicated on the business autonomy of all parties.
6. When you create your first game, you're like a band starting out. Build a local fanbase, an internet fanbase.
7. It's the clamor of your fans that gets your games into game stores, so cultivate your fans first and foremost.
8. Having a standing body of work is great. It softens many blows. I recommend it! But nobody starts out with one.
9. A fan is better for your business than a customer, and a colleague is better for your business than a fan. This is mutualism. By Vincent Baker in anyway. Filed under rpglink. 2014-12-22 ]]>Mon, 22 Dec 2014 00:00:00 -0500Warning: mysql_free_result() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/apocxcfy/public_html/lumpley.com/anyway_rss.php on line 39